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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Thoughts on Teaching

We are through the 9th week of classes which means we are more than halfway through the semester now. This semester I have had a reduced teaching load as a part of my maternity leave. I really enjoy it but it's also been really challenging to balance life with baby without having outside childcare. With the baby not taking a bottle I can only be away for about 2 hours so I'm constantly switching back and forth from mom mode to prof mode and it's exhausting! Part of me wishes that I had gone ahead and found Tuesday/Thursday childcare this semester so that I could be a little more focused while at work and 100% off when at home but then I think back to how tiny she was when the semester began 9 weeks ago, she was only 7 weeks old! There is no way I would have left her at that time. 

Our plan for the next 7 weeks is to survive and make sure that my students understand that they will not die if their homework takes an extra day or two to grade. I also need to give myself some grace when it comes to skipping meetings and luncheons. I enjoy being with my colleagues but all of those opportunities will still be there when. Caroline is bigger and she will only be little for such a short time that I should do my best to soak it in.

Anyway, beginning in January I'll be back to full time and baby will be in daycare from 9-1 every day. I'll go over to her daycare at 11 each day to feed her, thankfully daycare is across the street from my office! It's only 20 hours a week and a bit of that time will be sleep time so I feel pretty good about our set up. 

Now I just need to pick my textbooks for Spring which is easier said than done. I want books that are good, easy to read, available in electronic format and not too expensive which is a tall order!

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